"Why
would you want to learn German?" So said Mum, in a Yorkshire accent, a
look of horror on her face. Given when I mentioned it, in her mind she was somewhere in
the early 1940s, she thought I was betraying England. Why was I even telling her?
It's something to talk about in my monologue as we shuffle around Queen's Park
lake, given that mum can't carry on a regular conversation these days.
Somehow, I've
drifted back into talking about mum again. Wasn't my intention. I was thinking
about my recent German classes at Melbourne's CAE.
The
German people, our young Deutschlehrerin (female German teacher) told us a
couple of lessons ago, would only use the expression 'I love…' in the context
of an intimate relationship. Ich liebe dich - I love you - is reserved for
one's partners, one's family.
'So you mean,' said John, a student in the
class - aged 80 by the way, 'they wouldn't debase the word by using it to describe lesser things?'
'Ja,
genau!' she said. Yes, exactly.
So you wouldn't say you loved someone's hair or shoes. Das ist
verboten. It's banned. Hurrah, I know another quirk of the German language. I won't embarrass myself by
inappropriately professing my love when I'm in Germany: ich liebe das
Wohnmobil - I love this campervan.
Apart
from giving my non-working life a bit of structure and perhaps staving off
dementia, I decided to learn German because I've travelled there several times
and intend to return. The German language was absolutely, well, foreign. We -
Al and I - could be handed a German menu in a restaurant and have no idea what
the hell was on offer, apart from the ubiquitous wurst, schnitzel and strudel, words that have
found their way into our vernacular. We've been stumped driving off an
'Ausfahrt' (exit) on the 'Autobahn' (freeway); bemused as fellow campers have
waved us off on a ride with a 'Good fart!' Suppose it could be an added bonus.
But Gut Farht actually means have a good journey. As for ordering a glass of wine. In broken German I've asked for 'ein dry white'. Basically I've been requesting 'one - nearly - three, nonsense', given that in German 'w' is pronounced like our 'v' . Suppose that explains occasionally getting a glass of red and making do. Any port in a storm.
Now,
German is less weird by the minute. It's easy enough to learn to speak because
it's phonetic. Once you can recognise and mimic those 'guttural' sounds you're
away. Suppose the grammar would be challenging if one didn't love grammar, as I
do. Weird, huh.
Two
hours of German class seems to pass by each week in about fifteen minutes.
That's total absorption, or mindfulness or I'm having a series of cardio
vascular accidents. I'll go with the former.
Given
we don't mind debasing the word love in English I can say I love learning
German, In German I think that's ich mag
Deutsch lernen sehr gern. Course, I could be wrong.
